All Posts Tagged With: "Community"

We don’t always remember that social justice plays a key role in sustainability. One of the underlying assumptions of the modern world is that we can throw something we no longer want “away.” Well, there is no “away.” This planet is designed as an exquisitely intricate, interconnected web of life. And we are as much a part of that web as eagles and mushrooms.

As Van Jones, founder of the green-jobs advocacy group Green for All, has observed, there are no throwaway people, either. Our modern criminal justice system has not exactly gotten this message. One of the unexamined assumptions in this complex system is that some people are just too bad to be in society; they need to be locked up and forgotten. Essentially, thrown away.

Lauren Abramson, founder of the Community Conferencing Center, doesn’t buy it. Their work is based on the simple premise that people have the wisdom and compassion to resolve their own conflicts, given the right setting and subtle guidance. In fact, as you will see from watching this video, Conferences have a very high rate of success and the parties involved have quite low rates of re-offending. Conferences are also profound for the participants, binding them together through shared experience.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_6iTCo5Ci8[/youtube]

FOUR YEARS. GO. is a campaign to catalyze and empower a fundamental shift in the direction of humanity, inspiring collaborative action, connecting individuals and organizations, and amplifying best practices and successes.

This campaign is inspiring an awareness of the urgency to shift humanity’s trajectory by 2014, before our destructive trends make that shift impossible. They are empowering individuals and organizations to set and reach goals that will cause a positive global tipping point by 2014, setting humanity on a new path toward a socially just, environmentally sustainable, and spiritually fulfilling future.

This may sound like pie-in-the-sky, but — IT’S NOT. It’s entirely possible — as long as we think in terms of possibilities, rather than probabilities. (To paraphrase Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Movement.)

Take a look at this site. Get connected. Join a campaign. Become an allied organization. We just did.

After waiting two days for the snowplow to come and liberate us, the neighbors of Crest Road finally took matters into their own hands this morning. A handful of us starting digging out the street, working our way down the block. The idea was to hook up with another portion of the street that had already been cleared. At its peak, there were about twenty people toiling away.

This got me thinking about the key ingredients for a successful collaboration. As you read, think of how this could apply to a current or upcoming project at work.

A shared vision. Should we dig to the east or the west? A quick check on Google Earth confirmed that the eastward direction was shorter – and downhill. We all agreed wholeheartedly with this goal — dig the shortest route to freedom.

Leadership. All it took was four or five people to just get out there and start digging. A quick, three-minute discussion and we were in action.

Cooperation. In a constantly shifting dance, we each managed to dig in our own niche, making all our efforts as efficient as possible. Nobody got in anybody else’s way.

Willingness to do the dirty work. Shoveling two-plus feet of snow is hard work! Especially when you have to lift UP to dump your shovel. I didn’t hear any complaining.

Sense of humor. Laughing and joking certainly made the experience much more fun. We fantasized about sending the city a bill for our services and wondered how our mayor was enjoying her first few days in office, under a snow emergency.

Sharing of tools. Days into recovery from this snowstorm found our family with only one good shovel left. Somehow, there were plenty to go around.

New blood. As we moved down the block, other neighbors joined us, which was a tremendous lift for our morale. Not to mention our sore muscles.

Refreshment. Someone set out a couple of water pitchers and a stack of cups on the hood of their car. It was a generous and caring gesture, and reminded us to take care of the basics even while working hard.

Community. Unusual events like this storm tend to bring out that “we’re all in this together” spirit. This is a good energy to tap into on any collaborative effort – especially when your attention wanes or you get impatient with our results.

In the spirit of “All I Ever Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten,” if you found this helpful, please comment and share it around!

We are starting a new tradition called Thankful Thursday. Each week, we will post on someone or something that we are particularly grateful for, including mentors, inspiring green business owners, and clients. The intent is to pause and reflect on the wealth that is always present. Comments are welcome!

To start off, today I want to write about my husband, Peter Garver.

If I really let fly, this post is likely to be long enough to read until next Thursday! Instead, I will keep it to this one topic. Two days ago, Peter was mugged in broad daylight while walking near his office. It’s a hip complex of restored old mills, now offices, Starbucks, a wine store, and a Whole Foods. Not exactly a high-crime area.

Peter is 6′-4″, so is not used to feeling threatened in any setting. Two guys tackled him from behind, and before he knew it he was face-down on the pavement being subjected to some rather brutal treatment. They took his wallet, but thankfully left his car keys and cellphone.

Besides the keys and the phone, what else is there to be thankful for in this dismal story?

1. Peter suffered injuries that required a trip to the ER (the ambulance was overkill, but adds to the story). Thankfully, he needed only three stitches in his elbow and a tiny staple in his scalp (ouch!). Given that we live in Baltimore (home of “The Wire“), this could have been so much worse.

2. He immediately understood how lucky he is and has spent very little, if any, time dwelling on his anger. He has kept the perspective that we live a rather charmed life in a city that has too many areas where people feel unsafe all the time.

3. He has instead channeled his anger and sadness to working with our City Council representative to get a security camera installed in this somewhat isolated stretch of walkway. This will ripple forth and be of benefit throughout our community.

4. The outpouring of sympathy and support from neighbors, friends, and colleagues has been phenomenal. These connections are always there; we just don’t often take the time to really feel and acknowledge them.

5. Peter opened himself to receiving the care and attention of many people. He even went for some bodywork, to clear out the energy and help to heal pulled muscles, bumps and bruises. In our culture, needing help is taken to be a sign of weakness that can be very uncomfortable. I have seen nothing but grace and humility from him.

6. Last (and best!), he demonstrates over and over the magic of a sense of humor. From his first, twinkle-eyed comment to me to the occasional black-humor quip, Peter has performed his own special brand of alchemy on this terrible event.

I hope these reflections trigger something in you that you are thankful for, whether in your personal life or business. If you are so moved, I’d love to read your comments.

Living almost anywhere you’re probably familiar with at least one or two abandoned buildings, left unattended for years and years. Here in Baltimore you can scan whole blocks of vacancies. These sore-spots have become the inspiration for small and large efforts to revitalize some of the staggering 40,000 vacant homes and abandoned lots through innovation, idea building and conversation. One such project called Baltimore Infill Survey has just sent me a notification by email this morning. Their idea is, if you had it your way, what would you do with an abandoned lot or vacant space? This project originally came out of an idea which was presented at the 2008 Bioneers Conference this past November. Organized as a breakout session called Urban Economic Development and Visionary Green Design and Development, the project brought together architects, developers and urban critics. They came up with a pre-fab building concept called The Plant which would serve energy needs of the surrounding residents, within a mile radius. Read more about what I wrote in November here or here at Urban Palimpsest.

Make your claim and join the project . Really, what would you do!??

On New Year’s Day, we received an email from our good friend, Michael Furbish, who owns the Furbish Company , a green builder whose work we have profiled recently . They are clear about their mission on their website: "Furbish Company designs, sells, installs, and maintains plant-based building systems. We view plants as living machines. Set up properly, they enhance building performance while providing aesthetic beauty." In other words, they are change agents.

In our first post for the New Year, I wanted to welcome our new visitors, and remind our regulars about our purpose here. Since Michael says it so well, I’ll just use his words:

"Your site is absolutely wonderful. Every time I visit, it is deeper and richer. My one regret is that I spend too little time enjoying this space. As you articulate so well, appreciating the empty space . In many ways, your site is just that. It is the space that invites thinking about what can be."

I love that – we not only create space to think about what can be, we highlight what is, already. There are so many businesses and organizations that are doing wonderful, thoughtful, meaningful work around here. We intend to continue presenting their great work. We are the go-to resource for change agents to learn about each other and to refuel on inspiration when they are feeling drained by the challenges of being on the cutting edge of change.

We will also post more often about general, universal themes. Julie’s work as a green design and sustainability consultant, as well as her involvement in the community, provides much material. Alyssa will write more about her urban gardening and DIY projects. As an artist, her hands-on creative urges are boundless!

So, sit back and enjoy. Subscribe to our RSS. Tell your friends, especially your change-agent friends. Find us on Facebook , Twitter , Flickr , and Virb .

Recently, we started in earnest to learn all we can about the blogging world, including how to increase our site traffic so we can continue to offer GOforChange to our community and the wider world. Naturally, we enrolled in Upstart Blogger’s 30-Day Blogging Course . We are known mostly within our own networks, where we reliably preach to the converted. But what about people who are just waking up to environmental and economic challenges? With our expertise, wealth of information, online forums, calendar, and marketplace, we are determined to reach a wider audience.

We started GOforChange in early 2008 to help spread the word about the growing sustainability , local food , social justice, and greening movement in the Baltimore area. A blog was the right format to share information about upcoming events, volunteers opportunities, advice, and all the organizations and businesses in our area that are working for a better world. We are always learning about new things — community gardens, energy auditors, local artisans, schools — and the list of topics keeps growing. We continue to believe that reliable information about local resources is valuable to people who want to know how they can make a difference in their daily lives and communities.

As of Day 5 of the course, we have already learned much about social networks, Technorati rankings , Google Analytics, and reaching out to like-minded blogs. We are shifting our posts to offer more advice, musings, and stories from Julie’s work as a green architect and sustainability consultant, and Alyssa’s hands-on artistry in urban gardening, composting, and other DIY projects. Interspersed with posts about Baltimore-area topics, these will have a broad appeal beyond our geographic region. The Upstart Blogger course is something we probably should have taken six months ago, but back then we just didn’t realize how much we don’t know! Stay tuned for updates on our progress.